From The Artists Studio

Rockaway Artists Alliance Of Comics, Cameras and Kilearney

by Susan Hartenstein

Rockaway Artists Alliance Of Comics, Cameras and Kilearney

Art @ Fort Tilden: Black and Light on Silver, the exhibition of black and white photography from five of RAA’s top practitioners, continues through April 3 at sTudio 6 Gallery, Rockaway Center for the Arts (RoCA) at Fort Tilden. Gallery hours: Saturdays 12-4 p.m.; Sundays 1-4 p.m.. Admission is free.

Sunday, March 20, 2-5 p.m.: small reception featuring live musical entertainment that will include singers from RTC’s“ A Taste of Ireland.”

Sunday, March 27, 1-3 p.m.: small reception hosted by David Williams, one of the five photographers in the exhibition. He will also be interviewing the other artists in the show.

“A Taste of Ireland”: RTC’s successful presentation of the soul, spirit and music of the Emerald Isle is back by popular demand. Performances are March 18 and 19 at 8 p.m. and March 20 at 2 p.m. at the Post Theater in Fort Tilden. Special appearances Saturday and Sunday by a familiar-looking Mother Superior from last season.

Upcoming: Fifteen Years Immersed in Watercolor: The Art of M. Elliott Killian beginning April 16. Reception April 17.

Watch for more information in later columns.

Tomasina De Crescenzo started doing stand-up comedy as a child. She and her brother pulled the candelabras off the wall for microphones, and played into a large hanging mirror in the living room. They thought all families “put on shows” like this. The two siblings parodied the people they knew – the priests and nuns at school, members of their family, the neighbors.

Not much has changed.

De Crescenzo’s “day job” is being an Operating Room nurse at St. John’s Hospital in Queens. She writes poetry and draws (winning a prize for both in a St. John’s contest) and is an actress with a beautiful singing voice who has performed with The Little Globe Theater in Rockaway, The Rockaway Theatre Company and for the Rockaway Artists Alliance. But her true passion is character-driven, observational stand-up comedy, using the people and the everyday life around her as the grist for her incisive sclude the New York Comedy Club, Stand-Up New York and Caroline’s in Manhattan and The Vault in Queens Village, where Tomasina has won a number of awards.

With a great ear and eye for voices and physical characteristics and a heat-seeking missile of an askew mind that is able to pinpoint and explode the funny, the idiosyncratic and the ridiculous in everyday life, she outrageously but lovingly discusses and imitates the situations and the folks that inhabit her world.

No one is immune — not co-workers, family members, patients nor people on the street. Her resident cast of characters includes Sister Inferior, the Reverend Mother of your nightmares; the cigar-chomping, beer-guzzling Dirty Old Man, an amalgam of her uncle and the guys who hang out at OTB; and Mitzy Ditzy, Queen of the Ritzy, the has-been, over-the-hill, post rehab Vegas showgirl who pops “medications” and washes them down with 80-proof “water.”

Not surprisingly, DeCrescenzo’s favorite comedians are Robin Williams, Jonathan Winters and Lucille Ball – all of whom created indelible characters.

What is next for Tomasina DeCrescenzo? This Howard Beach mother of two is pursuing the avenues to getting an agent and putting together a one-person show that will showcase her comedy and singing talents. But remember – you saw her here first.

Reminder to “Be a Fool for the Arts”: The 2005 RAA fundraiser is Saturday, April 2 from 8 to 12 p.m. at The Beach Club, 129 Beach 116th Street in Rockaway Park. The evening will include cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, dinner, dancing, entertainment, raffles of original artwork and other special raffles. Tickets are $100. Honorees are: Community Organization – The Graybeards; Community Member — Jonathan Gaska; RAA Member – Kate Judge Patton; RAA Member – Michael Tubridy; GNRA Partner – Jose Ramirez; Educator – Tara Scannell. Contact RAA if you wish to purchase a ticket. If you are unable to attend, RAA will still appreciate your tax deductible contribution to our efforts for the community. For tickets and information please call our office at 718 474-0861 or email: rockart116@aol.com.

Spring is emerging like those buds just starting to peak out from our trees. Celebrate by seeing an art event, observing the art inherent in the nature and structures surrounding us. Or by creating your own art in any of its forms. Enjoy. CU@RoCA.